Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is there a note on any of that? That is a contract from a person who produces a large amount of milk. One would imagine the co-operatives would be more responsible. The witnesses said that 8% to 10% is tied up. I presume the customers that do the forward buying buy more than that from the co-operatives. How is the price of milk decided? It was at 40 cent then went to 41 cent and so on up to 48 cent. If they are able to move on that, what is the big deal in a time of war? If there was no war or fertiliser crisis, with an increase of 300%, or maybe 400% for urea, what would happen? In a war situation, governments have done things they would never have dreamed of doing before. I am not blaming the co-operatives in all this, because there are other suppliers and Ornua and crowds like that have done deals with the co-operatives. I hear that some of these companies make plenty of profit. It is not always the co-operative that is the stumbling block in solving this problem. The Chairman invited others besides the witnesses today, including Ornua. I would like to see why they are not here and I will ask the Chairman about it later.

A solution needs to be found. A limping farmer is no good for the co-operatives, for himself or herself, or whoever the co-operatives sell the products on to. There will be a decrease of 605 million l of milk in the UK this year. A few half-arsed attempts were made by some co-operatives, saying they would give farmers some money now and they could pay it back later. I do not know of all of them. The industry needs to get to grips with this. Some of these contracts were for 31 cent or 32 cent. Milk costs 46 cent or 47 cent and rising. There is no point in saying otherwise. What is the total milk production in Ireland?